Watersheds, Aquifers and the Groundwater Use Plan
Chapter Thirty-Four
Syllabus topic 1, "Water"
Pages 141 to 144 of 885
In one line
The Act's answer to over-draft is to make the aquifer itself the unit of regulation, give it a plan, and give the people who pump from it a committee.
In the wording a student can write in an exam: sections 41 to 45 provide for the identification, delineation and declaration of a basic watershed or aquifer, the delineation of an area of influence, a watershed or aquifer based groundwater use plan, assistance in preparing the Integrated Watershed Development and Management Plan, and the technical survey; section 32 governs the construction of a new well in a notified area; section 33 provides for the promotion of community participation; section 35 regulates or prohibits sand mining; sections 36 to 40 provide the Watershed Water Resources Committee with finances, transparency, grants, a budget and accounts; and sections 46 to 50 deal with advice in non-notified areas, service of orders, directions by Government, public servants and good faith protection.
Making the aquifer the unit
Section 41, identification, delineation and declaration of a basic watershed or aquifer. This is the provision that answers the structural problem the chapter on aquifers sets out: the physical unit is the aquifer and the legal unit was the plot. Section 41 makes the aquifer a legal unit.
Section 42, delineation of an area of influence, on the same footing.
Section 43, a watershed or aquifer based groundwater use plan. The plan says how much may be drawn from that unit and for what.
Section 44 provides for assistance in preparing the Integrated Watershed Development and Management Plan under section 19, and section 45 for the technical survey and supporting work on which both depend.
Section 46 requires the Groundwater Surveys and Development Agency to advise the panchayat, the panchayat samiti and the urban local bodies in non-notified areas, so that the technical service is not confined to areas in crisis.
Regulating the pump and the crop
Section 30, groundwater management for existing users, dealt with in the previous chapter, is the bridge.
Section 31 allows the use of chemical fertilisers or pesticides to be prohibited or limited, because a contaminated aquifer is as lost as an empty one.
Section 32, construction of a new well in a notified area. It supplements section 8: even where the well is not a deep well, construction in a notified area is regulated.
Section 33, promotion of community participation, and section 34, implementation of the decisions and plans of the Watershed Water Resources Committee.
Section 35, regulation or prohibition of sand mining. Sand mining in a riverbed removes the material that stores and transmits water to the shallow aquifer alongside, so a groundwater statute regulates it. That single section is the clearest instance in this book of module I and module II being the same subject, and it is worth citing when MU pairs quarrying with water.
Watersheds, Aquifers and the Groundwater Use Plan
Money, transparency and control
Sections 36 to 40 give the Watershed Water Resources Committee financial resources, require transparency in its working, provide for grants and advances, and require a budget and accounts. A users' committee without money is an advisory group; these sections are what make it an institution.
Section 47, service of order, and section 48, directions by Government, under which the State may direct the Authority.
Section 49 makes members and employees of the State Authority and of the Watershed Water Resources Committee public servants, and section 50 protects action taken in good faith.
Broken down
Three ideas are doing the work.
The aquifer as a legal unit. Sections 41 to 43. Without it, every regulation is a regulation of individual wells and the resource is nobody's responsibility.
The users as the regulator. Sections 29, 33, 34 and 36 to 40. The theory is Ostrom's: a common pool resource is best governed by rules the users make and monitor, provided the boundary is clear, the rules match local conditions, and there are graduated sanctions and a cheap way of resolving conflict. Naming that theory in an answer, and pointing at these sections as its statutory form, is exactly the kind of link between module I and module III the examiner rewards.
And the plan as the instrument. Section 43 turns an assessment into an allocation, which is what an entitlement regime requires.
Worked example
A watershed of eleven villages is at 118 per cent of extraction and has been notified.
Step one, delineate. Under section 41 the basic watershed or aquifer is identified, delineated and declared, so that everybody knows what the resource is.
Step two, plan. Under section 43 a groundwater use plan is made for that unit, and under section 19 the Integrated Watershed Development and Management Plan is prepared for the district.
Step three, restrict. New wells under section 32, deep wells under section 8, extraction near a drinking water source under sections 21 and 22.
Step four, recharge. Rainwater harvesting for artificial recharge under section 9, and the watershed works under the Integrated Plan.
Step five, change the demand. The crop plan under section 10, and the limit on fertilisers and pesticides under section 31.
Step six, protect the physical store. Regulate or prohibit sand mining in the riverbed under section 35.
Step seven, run it. The Watershed Water Resources Committee under section 29, with money under sections 36 to 40, its decisions enforced by the District Authority under section 28.
Watersheds, Aquifers and the Groundwater Use Plan
That is the whole Act in one worked example, and it is a good answer to a question about the efficacy of existing legislation on groundwater management.
Distinctions
| The central regime | This Act | |
|---|---|---|
| Source of power | Section 3(3) of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 | A State Act of its own |
| Unit of regulation | A notified assessment unit | A declared basic watershed or aquifer, section 41 |
| Who regulates | The Central Ground Water Authority | The State Authority, the District Authority and the users' committee |
| Farmers | Largely exempt | Regulated, through wells, crop plan and the committee |
| Instrument | Permission, and a no objection certificate | A groundwater use plan, section 43 |
What it does NOT mean
It does not mean the plan is enforceable against each farmer directly. It works through the restrictions on wells, the committee's decisions and the District Authority's enforcement under section 28.
It does not mean sand mining is prohibited. Section 35 allows it to be regulated or prohibited, and the mining law in module II continues to apply.
And it does not mean the Act has been fully implemented. Notification is discretionary, the committees have not been constituted everywhere, and the crop plan has not been enforced. Saying so is part of an honest answer about efficacy.
Quick revision
Sections 41 to 45: identify, delineate and declare the basic watershed or aquifer; delineate an area of influence; make a watershed or aquifer based groundwater use plan; assist the Integrated Plan; and do the technical survey. Section 46: advice to local bodies in non-notified areas.
Section 31: limit chemical fertilisers and pesticides. Section 32: new wells in a notified area. Section 33: community participation. Section 34: implementation of the Committee's decisions. Section 35: regulate or prohibit sand mining.
Sections 36 to 40: the Committee's finances, transparency, grants, budget and accounts.
Sections 47 to 50: service of orders, directions by Government, public servants, and good faith protection.
Test yourself
1. Which sections make the aquifer a legal unit, and why does that matter? Sections 41 to 43. It matters because the physical resource is one aquifer under many plots, and until the aquifer itself is delineated and given a plan there is no unit at which draft can be limited.
2. Why does a groundwater Act regulate sand mining? Because sand in a riverbed stores and transmits water to the shallow aquifer alongside, so removing it lowers the water available to the wells nearby. Section 35 accordingly allows sand mining to be regulated or prohibited.
3. Which sections turn the Watershed Water Resources Committee into an institution rather than a discussion group? Sections 36 to 40, which give it financial resources, require transparency, provide for grants and advances and require a budget and accounts; together with section 28, under which the District Authority enforces its decisions.
Watersheds, Aquifers and the Groundwater Use Plan
4. What does section 46 provide, and why is it worth noting? That the Groundwater Surveys and Development Agency shall advise panchayats, panchayat samitis and urban local bodies in non-notified areas, so that technical help is not confined to areas already in crisis.
The rest of this subject
These notes are cut from the University's printed syllabus. Open the syllabus itself, or the past papers, for the same subject.